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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28944789">Bonding</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/valerian_valentine/pseuds/valerian_valentine'>valerian_valentine</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Homestuck</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ableism, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Neurodiversity, Puzzles, theyre friends</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 04:29:14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,644</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28944789</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/valerian_valentine/pseuds/valerian_valentine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jake English finds himself in a very familiar situation but this time, he has a new friend to keep him company.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jake English &amp; Dave Strider</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Bonding</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Jake English loved his friends, he really did! He loved Dirk, he loved Roxy, he loved Jane, he loved all of their weird ecto relatives… But in moments like these, he pondered how he was the one who was hard to communicate with. ‘Jake, you suck at communicating!’ ‘Why can’t you just talk about your feelings?!’ ‘Why are you so difficult to talk to?!’ When they were the ones being confusing on purpose. Saying they don’t want something when they do want something then getting upset when you don’t give them the thing they said they didn’t want or just not telling you things in general! He didn’t understand it! Hypocrites, all of them! He loved them but jeez…</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The trolls were easier to deal with. They would always tell you how they were feeling… Well, they never really told him how they were feeling but it was easier to read them, to decipher the emotions on their faces. Unlike Dirk who never showed any emotion or conviction then got upset when he didn’t understand how he was feeling… He may be a hope player but he wasn’t psychic! </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He sighed quietly as his friends fell into another one of their silences. Once again, one of them was upset with something another one did but they weren’t going to admit they were upset, they were just going to hold everyone hostage until they guessed correctly. This sucked. This party sucked the second he walked in! No one listened to him when he brought up his new projects (he was attempting at bringing back a few extinct moth genuses) and then they all talked over him and then Rose gave him a stupid fucking knit hat with the yarn he specifically said felt like spider ants crawling all around his skin and biting his nerve endings but apparently, since he was stupid, he should be perfectly fine with his friends forcing exposure therapy on him because he, </span>
  <em>
    <span>apparently, </span>
  </em>
  <span>didn’t know any better! Fuck this shit!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He got up with a quiet huff and just left the room, leaving them to sit in their stupid tension. He loved them all dearly, he really and truly did, but he was not going to be dealing with that today. No way, no how! He shook his head just to show off his refusal then continued doing it for a little while, the way his hair tickled his neck and ears feeling nice. The house was nice too… Kinda. If you want your house to look like a display instead of a house. Whose house was this anyways? It looked weird. He didn’t like it. Made him feel weird in his bones, like he was going to break something extremely expensive then have to spend the rest of his life feeling bad because of it. They didn’t display anything cool! No personality, no nothing just… Generic things! Things with no meaning, no life, no nothing! This is why he hated hanging out with people at their houses. They were all stupid and lifeless in their decor choices. Where were the spiderwebs?! Where were the stupid, decaying posters?! Where were the weird ass souvenirs or tiny gifts from relatives?! There was nothing interesting! </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He shook his hand a bit as he walked, trying to subconsciously shoo away the cooperate feel of the house and soon found himself in what seemed to be the ‘sun room’ where Dave, a nice fellow he didn’t really know that well, was crouching over something, seemingly enraptured in whatever it was. Dave seemed like a cool guy, always sort of out of the loop but a bit more subtle about it. He was what people wanted Jake to be… Sometimes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“‘Ello Dave!” He greeted, already feeling drained despite just starting the conversation. He just wanted to go home and watch some Avatar. Despite seeing it hundreds of times, it still completely amazed him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dave startled a bit, glancing behind him. “Oh. ‘Sup. I found this worm.” He pointed to a spot hidden by his body before returning to his staring, his knees surely aching from being in the position for so long.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He got closer and peered over Dave, a burst of dopamine rushing through his head when he saw the small worm just… Worming. Being a worm. Absolutely no thoughts, only instincts. Superb. He sat down next to Dave, staring at the worm, feeling his mind starting to recharge. Maybe Dave was an okay friend.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Umm…” Dave finally toppled backwards, sitting on his butt properly now, his legs strewn about with careful care on not squishing the sweet worm. “So. Y’all get into an argument or something?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Huh?” Oh goodness, here it comes. Dave was going to make fun of him for not understanding.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My bad. I was asking why you’re here and not with everyone else, so I assumed y’all got into a fight or something.” Dave shrugged, seemingly okay with repeating himself. Well.. That’s just nice!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh! No, no. Well…” He sighed, lifting up a hand to bop himself on the head but quickly switched mid way, forcing himself to scratch his scalp instead despite desperately wanting to just hit the shit out of his skull. “Everyone got into one of their fuddy duddies again. Someone wants something but acts like they don’t want something then gets upset when they don’t get that thing. Just the usual, I suppose..”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh damn. That must’ve been going on for hours now. I dunno, I got here and the energy was too off for me so I kinda just found myself in here. Damn, that means I’ve been staring at this worm for at least an hour…” Dave frowned, slowly starting to rock himself, seemingly unaware he was doing so. “Nice. So, uh, you just wanted to get away from them, huh?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jake sighed, going back to his worm watching. It was wiggling happily in a moist dirt pile Dave must have put it in. “Yeah. It’s just… It’s confusing and bloody stupid! And hypocritical!” He complained, feeling like he was about to burst inside if he didn’t shake his hands but he kept it in, not wanting to freak out Dave.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hypocritical?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah! They’re always telling me how bloody hard it is to talk with me and how hard it is to get a straight answer out of me and then they go pulling some bull honkey like that! ‘Jake is so stupid, he- he’!” He groaned and gave up on his futile fight against his urges, twitching violently before pressing the palms of his hands against his eyes, rocking back and worth, waiting for the insults to come pouring in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Chill, I get it. Tellin’ us we don’t communicate properly when they couldn’t tell someone how they really feel if they were held at gunpoint.” Dave sympathized, his voice soothing him a little bit. He didn’t whistle when he pronounced his t’s or s’s.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah… It’s just not nice, ya know?” He sighed, slowly moving his hands away from his eyes. He really needed to stop that before he hurt himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah…” Silence followed Dave’s agreement and Jake could feel the awkwardness rise, the air quickly becoming stiff and stagnant, tense with their own thoughts. He could practically </span>
  <em>
    <span>feel</span>
  </em>
  <span> Dave’s thoughts right next to him, the intensity and flow too fast for him to handle. This was too much, he needed to break the silence, he was making Dave uncomfortable-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did you know squirrels cause twenty percent of power outages?” Dave blurted out, cracking his knuckles casually. He sounded like he had arthritis.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“.... Wait, what?” Jake questioned, frowning as his mind slowly absorbed the new information. It was odd enough to throw him off but not completely freak him out, it was just… Odd.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, you think one of ‘em would have fixed that problem but nah. They’re- the squirrels, are all little engineers but they don’t have experience or safety gloves, just.. Hubris and audacity. I’ve seen them do it a few times, it’s pretty impressive. They look like they know what they’re doing.” Dave rambled, gesturing with his hands, copying Jakes rocking. Huh. Nice!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wow… That’s pretty cool! I didn’t even realize that squirrels could get up those poles! But I tend not to notice things like that, haha…” He joked awkwardly, inwardly gagging. He hated making fun of himself but it made people like him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Eh, no one really does. Squirrels are ten times more stealthy than you realize, it’s awesome. You never realize that they’re there until it’s too late and then you’re just like, woah, what the fuck, has that squirrel always been there? Yeah, squirrels been there for an hour now. They’re the real government spying machines, I’m telling you. You ever seen someone who actively noticed and monitored squirrels? No. It’s fucking weird, I’m telling you and this is just the tip of the fucking iceberg man, it goes so much deeper than just squirrels. The birds, of course, a few of them are also machines but not enough to really, like, pop up and I’m sure they’ve held back on using those machines due to like.. The memes and all but, dawg, listen,” Dave put his hand on his shoulder, using his other hand to make… An italian symbol? “It’s the fucking squirrels you gotta watch out for, dude. The fucking squirrels.” He whispered before slowly breaking out into a huge grin. “I’m just fuckin’ with you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jake let out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding and put a hand on his chest, feeling his heart pounding. “I was very concerned for a second there, I thought Dirk must have gone a touch crazy with one of his inventions again and I would rather not have a repeat of the horse accident.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Valid thought process but don’t worry, squirrels aren’t some secret fucking machines. That conspiracy theory was going to end with some major anti semitism, like all conspiracy theories.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He frowned, his brain stuttering again. “I thought you were jewish?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I am, I just like cosplaying as some weird conspiracy theorist sometimes.” Dave shrugged, pausing his rocking before starting again, now in sync with Jake. “Not really but I like letting my mind fall down those rabbit holes sometimes. It’s… Nice. I don’t really believe in any of the philosophies or anything, I just think it’s fun to pretend like I do then abandon my whole well thought out theory later.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He slowly nodded, feeling like he understood. “That does sound quite fun.. But Those types of things usually fuzzle my mind so I don’t think I could do it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fair, it takes a lot of brain power to think like that and connect the dots and then remember all the threads and shit. I only really like doing it when I have way too much energy and don’t wanna, like, unload it on everyone else- What?” Dave frowned, watching Jakes hands start flapping when he mentioned having too much energy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry! I- So- I struggle with too much energy all the time! I tell the others and they just tell me to go work out but that doesn’t help cause it’s, like, all mental, yeah? I always just do puzzles when that happens, and,-” He bent his wrists back and hit his pulse points together as he thought about his puzzles, excitement and happiness rushing through him. “I just </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> love puzzles! All types! Crosswords, word searches, image puzzles, all of them!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dave grinned, nodding along. “Hell yeah dawg, puzzles are the shit. Fun for the whole family till pop comes home, please stop me from continuing this analogy, and is upset about-”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“Dave, I get it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dave sighed with relief, putting the back of his wrist against his forehead dramatically. “Thank you, that would have ended horribly. Uh. Yeah.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You talk an awful lot.” He mentioned, trying to compliment the man next to him, watching as Dave quickly misinterpreted the sentence.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, yeah, sor-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, no! Don’t apologize!” Jake held up his hands then sighed. “I should apologize, I-I meant that as a compliment and, well, I’ve never been good at this talking business…” He slowed his rocking, bringing his knees up to his chest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Really?” Dave frowned. “I always see you with, like, crowds of people and they seem pretty enraptured.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That is completely different than keeping up an active conversation. I can talk about things that have already happened no problem but coming up with things to say and making sure I won’t be misunderstood or taken the wrong way? I have particular struggle with that..” Jake sighed again, pressing his cheek against his knee. Talking was always hard but talking with Dave… Well, it was still really difficult but he seemed to be doing well so far!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I never would have noticed. Well, you do seem kinda awkward, like… Carrying everyday conversations or whatever. Like, uninterested in talking about anything other than things you already know the answers to or are invested in. I get like that too but I think I’m fairly good at masking it. See, you gotta base your entire personality on being some cold, distant guy so when you actually don’t give a shit about whatever the other person is talking about, it seems normal.” Dave advised, smirking smugly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He slowly nodded, smiling back. “That’s real clever, chum!” He complimented, allowing himself to relax. “But speaking of the others, I think we best get back before they worry for too long…” He suggested, hating himself for telling the truth. He didn’t want to go back! He wanted to stay and hang out with Dave and talk about puzzles!</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dave sighed and got up, stretching. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” He reached down and gently scooped up the happy worm before transferring him to a nearby patch of moist dirt. “You seemed pretty overwhelmed when you came in, you want me to act as a buff when we get back?” He offered, patting the dirt off his hands.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jake sighed with relief, getting up as well. “Please and thank you! I absolutely adore our friends, don’t get me wrong, but they can be…” He trailed off, hoping Dave would understand.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, I get it. They’re a buncha assholes sometimes, I’ll be sure to tell them that.” Dave suddenly frowned. “Sorry, I just realized you can’t see me wink.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He grinned, chuckling quietly. “I’ll pretend you lowered them and winked at me like a cool movie guy but.... You won’t really tell them what I told you, right?” He asked, not wanting to go through another whole fiasco.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I won’t, as long as you don’t go telling anyone I’ve started up my conspiracy habit again.” Dave held his hand out, smirking the second their hands touched and shook.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Deal, my cool friend! And if you ever need someone to tell your theories to, I am always open ears.” He told his new friend, letting his hand fall back to his side despite the fact he would definitely not mind holding hands with Dave all the way back and maybe more. What? Hand holding made him feel secure.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“And if you need a puzzle pal, call me. I’m aware Dirk is better at puzzles than I am but I imagine it gets a bit.. Much, dealing with his.. Everything-ness.” Dave sympathized, beginning to walk with Jake back to the group.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.. He means well, really, he just doesn’t understand that we enjoy puzzles very differently. But, um,.... Do you know where we are?” He questioned, scratching his head as he followed Dave, not recognizing anything in this house.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, absolutely no idea, but if we wander around for long enough we’ll find something entertaining. Hey, weren’t you talking about moth genuses when we got here?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Dave Strider, you will love this. So, I have this new project-”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>my tumblr is valerian-valentine-2 if you wanna chat or something!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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